Behind Yardwork

I find it harder to do yardwork these days.  Bad knees, bad back, muscle cramps from gripping tools tightly...  I think I have pushed my body too long doing too many things it really takes 2 people to do.  I sure wish I had a cloned Me to help out.  I may have to hire one.

Today, I got up and (because it was going to be 40F and windy) put on thermal underwear to prepare to move the last of the topsoil from the trailer to the front island bed (to start to plant bulbs I ordered last Spring) etc, it was past 4 pm.  It gets dark before 5 now.  Not much time to do anything useful!

Shorter days and Standard Time really mess up my life November to March...  I am not an early-riser these days.  

So by the time I made lunch, fed The Mews, started some laundry, cleaned the litterboxes, got the mail and newspaper, put out trash for pickup, cleaned up the kitchen pans and plates for the dishwasher, the light was about gone.

I just can't seem to get out of bed after only 8 hours these days.   8 hours in bed doesn't mean 8 hours of sleep for me.  I need 10-12 hours in bed to get 8 hours of sleep these days.  Getting old is bad enough, but needing that much bedtime for 8 hours of sleep is worse.  My awake time is getting less.  

I resist taking sleeping pills, but I've seen ads about"non-addictive" ones.  I will add that to the list of things to discuss with my Dr.

When I retired in 2006 after 35 years of getting up every day at 5 am (and returning home at 6 pm) I swore I would never get up that early again.  I might have to start forcing myself to get up earlier.

I have the front island almost covered with paper (to smother the grass) and soil covering most of it (to hold the paper down and fertilize the tree and future bulbs).

But I need to finish the soil covering and plant the bulbs.  😓

The odd part is that planting the bulbs will be the easy part.  The drill auger makes creating 6" holes in good soil easy.  Putting the bulbs in the ground is easy.  Raking the loose soil to cover the bulbs is easy.  

It is shoveling soil from the trailer into buckets and dumping the buckets onto the paper that is the hard part.  But any project has a hard part, and I have to get at that part before I can to the rest!

Did Some Things

After complaining about minor problems, I meant to list things I managed to do anyway.  OK, I'm a couple days late...

1.  I have 2 birdfeeders.  One is thistle seed for the goldfinches.  Actually 2 feeders there on a movable pipe stand.  Those are easy to refill.  I buy thistle seed in 50# bags and store them in gallon plastic jugs for easy refill.

2.  The other is the black oil sunflower seed feeder for the cardinals, jays, titmouses etc etc.  That one takes the 8' stepladder to refill and is awkward even then.  The stepladder was in the far backyard where I was repairing the garden enclosure chicken wire crushed by heavy snow 2 years ago. 

I dragged it to the sunflower feeder liming all the way.  It could have been worse.  I might have had to just drag it.  But I got it set up.  I had the bucket of sunflower seeds at hand and dumped them in.  And I refilled the 2 suet cages.  I can already see that the birds are appreciating both.

3.  Indoors, from outside, my tray plantings of lettuces and carrots and celery were a mess and there were aphids.  I clipped off what was useful of the lettuce and sprayed the carrots with an organic soap.  Took a week to eliminate them.  They don't seem to like celery.  

4.  I have a 2' x 4' plastic box I mix new soils in.  But this time, I dumped the empty trays of freeze-killed lettuce in.  Watered them slightly and pulled all old roots and a few weeds out.  Mixed in some organic fertilizer and refilled them.  Re-planted them.  Seedlings are emerging now.  Hurray.

5.  But that meant they needed light.  I turned on the light stand power and timer and discovered half the bulbs were burned out.  The lowest ones, of course.  It is really hard to get down on my knees to do bulb replacement.  I spilled a bowl of thistle seeds indented to the pollinator garden and had to sweep it it all back into the bowl.  More bending at the knees...

6.  I got the light stand lights replaced so all are working.  I buy them by the case.  If you want to know, 2500 lumens and 5000K is the best combination for seedling growth.  Since they are on 14 hours per day, they only last a year though.

7.  So, after the lights were working, I had to replant some trays.  And because the trays can overflow with watering and the are electric lights below, I had to get trays under them to catch extra water.   And I have to match trays and emerging seedling to height.  You want the seedlings to stay close to the lights.

8.  So I had to move trays around according to their height.  Lifting objects above my shoulder is literally a "pain".  But it had to be done and I did.  Ouch and all that...

9.  I dragged 2 trash barrels of mown leaves to the compost bin.  The previously composted material had dropped 8" so there was room for more.  Carrying them there was "left foot forward, then right foot forward".  Repeat for 100'...

10.  I collected fallen branches, slowly.  I cut them apart with the bowsaw.  I have enough for a small fireplace fire when I want one.  I had thought to do it New Years Eve, but I was too tired then.  

11.  I did some shopping at Walmart.  For whatever reason, they sell Fancy Food real cheap.  While I was looking for the varieties The Mews like, 2 ladies were also there.  One commented on my cat mask and asked about what I knew about getting their cats to eat.

I mentioned that sprinkling a few kibbles on the top got their hunger activated.  Also that dipping a fingertip in the canned stuff and rubbing it on their nose made them lick it and activated eating.  They were thrilled at the advice.  

12.  I repaired the vacuum cleaner.  Had to take it mostly apart at the bottom, but found the input chute was clogged.  That was a real pain to clear but I finally managed it.  Works great again now.  So I suppose I will have to clean the whole house now.

Tree Stump And Root Grinding

After seeing that the buried utilities were "officially" marked with lawn paint, and considering how long it would take for some of the stumps and roots to decay, I gave in and called the tree service.  They will be here this afternoon.  It's worth just getting over with.

I say"officially" because I'm sure the Miss Utility botched the job.  I've had it done before, and I recall there being a lot more lines and colors of paints.  But I now have "official" County documentation about where excavation is permitted.

I'm not trying to be cute or legalistic.  The utilities are buried 18-36" deep and the stumps and roots will only be grinded 6" or less.  There is only one stump close to the utilities and I will have them be careful about it.

I just want to have this project over with.

A Day Of Small Tasks

Yesterday my lower back wasn't bothering me and  my right knee wasn't feeling stiff, so I spent the day doing constant but light work.  Well, I didn't want to stress my back of knee (give them another day of rest).  It was mostly clean-up stuff like collecting broken 6-packs of seedling planting pots, slow-speed kitchen and bathroom cleaning, watering houseplants, gathering up scattered cat toys, etc.  It is good for the body to just stay mildly active sometimes.  

But I did get a few more serious  things taken care of:

1.  One of the more important things was to straight the bent electrical conduit pipes that fit inside the PVC tubes for the frame of my garden enclosure.  That may seem like serious work, but it is more tedious than physically hard.  It is most just getting some leverage.

I stuck one end of the metal conduit (which is thin compared to real iron pipe though not exactly flexible) under the trail hitch of the riding lawn mower and set a cinder block a few feet out.  Mild body weight was enough to bend part of it straighter again.  Then turned the pipe around and did it again.  Repeated that for the 4 bent conduit pipes.  Then moved the cinder block a little further away and did the middle part.  

They aren't perfect, but they are "straight enough".  They are just there to keep the 10' lengths of PVC tube from sagging.  I had to use PVC for the framing because the connections were complex at spots.  PVC has more connection options than electrical metal conduit (like this)...

The image is upside down to show all the connections.  The top one actually is used pointing down to attach a support pole to the ground.  The others hold ceiling poles to support the chicken wire covering the top of the enclosure.  

2.  Then I had to figure out what broken PVC and connecters I needed to replace.  To my relief, I only need 3 straight-line connectors and some new PVC cement and 3' of straight PVC tube.  The parts broke at angles that can be cemented back into place.  

Then I can roll the chicken wire back over the top and sides.  Actually, that will be harder than it sounds.  First, vines have grown up the sides and connected in fallen chicken wire and they all need to bu pruned away a few inches at a time.  I've done some of it, but it is slow work and I'll leave that for next week.

Second, part of the reason the top chicken wire collapsed was that the stuff is 4' wide, so there are 5 strips of it over the tops and sides.  I had clips holding them together, but they were weak.  They really need to be "sewn" together with aluminum wire.  I didn't do that when I built the enclosure and meant to every year after.  This time I will.

3.  I've been cutting apart old overgrown shrubs along the fence where I have a long 50' straight flowerbed of perennials and The Mews Memorial Garden.  I don't do too much at a time.  It takes a lot of twisting and bending, and too much of that causes muscle cramps and stiffness.  But I have the trailer stacked about as high as I can safely tie down, so I will be off to the County Recycling Center some Saturday soon.  

They pile up yard debris to make mulch/compost.  If I go on a Saturday, I can get the trailer loaded with it for free, and I have plenty of places to use it.  I could go there any Saturday, but I feel slightly guilty if I'm not providing fresh material.  LOL!

4.  Planted 2 cherry tomatoes in a large pot on the deck.  Well, 2 grew in one small pot, so rather than damage their roots separating them, I just planted them as one.  They are draped over the lower rails.  To ease the bending, I stuck foam tubing on the rail boards. The stuff is actually insulation for putting around hot water pipes to reduce heat loss, but I have a talent for "repurposing" leftover stuff.  I try to help my plants as much as possible!

5.  My meadow bed has wild grass growing in it, which competes with the flowers.  Since I went to a lot of effort to plan 40 seedling and transplanted 8 existing Black-eyed Susans there a couple weeks ago (and they seem to be getting established - at least none have died), I wanted to think of a way to help them a bit.  Well, I collect a lot of thin cardboard from cat food trays from the stores.  So I cut them into 10" squares.  I'll cut a 2" hole in the center and a slot to one edge.  Then I'll slip them around the seedlings to smother weeds/grass.

6.  Mowed the daffodil bed.  In previous years, weeds and grass grew over the Summer.  I've tried covering the area with black plastic sheeting for several years (after the daffs died back), but it collected rainwater and mosquitos bred there so I kept having to poke holes for drainage.  It finally got too brittle from U/V rays and ripped apart.  This time, I'll cover it with black water-permeable fabric.  It is more U/V resistant and lets water sink through.  But that's for "next week" too.

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After that, it was making dinner, watching The January 6th Insurrection House Committee Report summary/analysis on MSNBC, and processing some pics off the camera.  

Pruning And Shaping

In 1984, I got a job at a new location.  Across the street was a very small park.  It had a reflecting pool and a statue.  And was surrounded by old Saucer Magnolia trees that bloomed in early Spring.  I fell in love with those trees.

The trees themselves were pruned nearly skeletory with the branches forced at odd angles.  So even when not in bloom, they were "unusual".  I immediately bought 2 saplings and planted 1 in the front yard and 1 in the back.  I have enjoyed their blooms for 3 decades.

But they don't naturally grow into the odd branch angles I also loved.  It takes an arborist's skill to do that.  And I am no arborist.

But I try to shape mine as best I can.  Every couple of years, I go at them with saw and loppers to remove the excess growth, clearing out deadwood and internal branches that "clog up the appearance".

I spent most of yesterday doing that on the backyard tree.  Here is the BEFORE pic...

Some branches were drooping so low, I couldn't walk under them.  Other branches were crossing each other or being shaded by others.  So I decided to make some major changes.  Loppers and an electric chain saw can do wonders!

I didn't do it fast.  Shaping a tree takes consideration.  Some branches were easy to decide to remove as they were all droopy and there were uprights that had no value.  I removed those first and then stood back and considered the tree from all sides.

After that, things went slower.  There was one branch in a low position that was in the right place, but had a cavity I knew would fail as the branch grew.  I used the chain saw on it below first and from the top after.  THUMP!  Clean branch collar cut!

After that, I started small, trimming upshoots and crossed branches, always removing the lowest ones.

The AFTER pics...

It looks better already, and I have a few new branches growing out at odd angles that will at least suggest the masterpieces at Rawlin's Park.  The lawn is covered in tree cuttings...

There is more to do higher up in the tree, but it was enough for the day.  It was hot out and close to dinnertime.  After all the gardening and some seed scatterring and raking around the newly-tilled meadow bed, I was soaked in sweat from hair tips to toenails.  It has been a week of 90+F with high humidity and another week of it forecast.  So (not to be indelicate but utterly practical), I stripped and stood in a hot shower to wash off all the sweat and salts.  I felt great after THAT!

And then fed the cats, made a nice dinner for myself (deboned chicken thigh cubed with whole mushrooms, shallots, and garlic over angel hair spaghetti with soy sauce and toasted sesame oil.  With a side of beans, beets, and a large tossed salad.  Then watched some MSNBC news commentary.  Good way to finish a day.

Next, I'll do the same on the front yard Saucer Magnolia. 

I'm Back, I Guess

But I have some unfortunate habits.  One is that when I stay up late on the computer, I drink and smoke too much and ruin my next day.  If I get up at 10am one day and then stay up til 10 am the next, sleeping even just 8 hours brings me to dinnertime and a whole day is shot.  Not to mention any normal sleeping schedule...  So the next day is pretty well shot to hell, too.

I went offline in order to focus on some house improvements, some yard work, and some outside repairs.  I did that because I was spending too many whole nights til dawn and beyond on very interesting computer sites (blogs, discussion boards, how-to sites, etc).


I was doing that more and more often the past few months and I decided to try to re-establish some normal schedule in order to get some work done.  Don't get me wrong, the online hours are important to me.  I enjoy blogging, I enjoy debating topics in discussion boards (and I'm not at crazy screaming adversarial sites - one is a gardening site and one is an atheist site where we just want freedom to discuss science and society without a lot of creationists arguing about Noah's ark and humans living with dinosaurs).  And I play a computer game where you build a space-faring society from a single settler in an unknown location.


But that was using up a lot of time.  And I have a lot of practical things to do that were getting away from me.  And I have used the time away reasonably well.  I spent a full day going around the house and listing all the things, by room, that needed attention.  I've been here 32 years; the list is long.  I did a few of the things on the list that I could do myself.  A lot of them were small things not worth listing, that I had put off.  Some were things that caught me by surprise, like the sudden regrowth of vines and underbrush that happened rather suddenly in June where I had cleared last Fall and seemed under control in May.

The County came out and cleared the storm drains that were buried under tree debris, clay, and gravel.  That was good, but they weren't willing to dredge the drainage easement above the storm drain (they had in the past).  New rules about being ultra-cautious around buried electrical and cable lines...    I will have to hire a professional excavator.  My neighbor is equally responsible for the drainage easement, but he doesn't care because his lawn is 1' higher than mine so all the flooding is on my side.  And according to the County, that is not their concern.

Well, I can afford to hire an excavator to scoop out the washed-in gravel to improve the drainage.  It would tear up the lawn some, but I know how to fix that.  I might raise my front lawn at the same time to match the neighbor's.  That's not a "competition", just making our lawns the same height.  Practically speaking, raising my lawn height effectively makes the the drainage easement deeper, which solves a problem.

One problem I have is "too much stuff".  There are things I bought and never used, things I bought that didn't do what I thought they would do, and things I bought that became useless when I changed a habit.  I am making a list of things to sell.  Two good examples are the bicycle I bought 8 years ago thinking I would ride it for getting back and forth to the car repair shop and the air compressor I bought 15 years ago that was way more powerful than a needed.

RIGHT after I bought the bicycle, the car dealership started a van service to bring customers home and back after repairs, so I don't need the bicycle to get back home and back.  And recently, I bought a small air compressor that is all I need and I can even carry it around (the old -but more powerful one) is good for someone with greater demands.

OLD...
New...

So I am going to fill the garage with stuff to sell and leave the car outside for a coupe weeks.  Good opportunity to wash the car, too...  Once every couple years whether it needs it or not, LOL! 

I'll be mentioning the outdoor and indoor projects as I get to them...  I just can't stay away much longer.  I'll find the time to describe them.  The discussion boards will have to live without my brilliance for a while.  ;)